Generating a model of software in execution

Abstract

A model of a software system under execution including: a representation of a first node corresponding to a first function executing in the software system which obtains access to a resource, with an indicator of a number of times the first function has been called in the software system; a representation of a second node corresponding to a second function executing in the software system while the resource is accessed, with an indicator of a number of times the second function has been called; a representation of a place holder node with an indicator that the place holder node has never been called in the software system; a representation of a first call from the first node to the place holder node; and a representation of a second call from the place holder node to the second node. The first and second calls correspond to the first function calling the second function in the software system.

1. A computer program product comprising computer program code stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium which, when executed on a data processing system, instructs the data processing system to generate a model comprising:
 a representation of a first node corresponding to a first function executing in the software system which obtains access to a resource, with an indicator of a number of times the first function has been called in the software system; 
 a representation of a second node corresponding to a second function executing in the software system while the resource is accessed, with an indicator of a number of times the second function has been called; 
 a representation of a place holder node with an indicator that the place holder node has never been called in the software system, the representation of the place holder node has never been called further indicating that the place holder node does not represent a function; 
 a representation of a first call from the first node to the place holder node; 
 a representation of a second call from the place holder node to the second node; and 
 wherein the first and second calls correspond to the first function calling the second function in the software system and the model of the software system under execution provides information regarding which functions are called while the resource is being accessed. 
 
   
   
     2. The computer program product of  claim 1  wherein the resource is a block of memory. 
   
   
     3. The computer program product of  claim 1  wherein the resource is a communications socket. 
   
   
     4. The computer program product of  claim 1  wherein the resource is a synchronisation lock. 
   
   
     5. The computer program product of  claim 1  wherein the resource is a software object. 
   
   
     6. The computer program product of  claim 1  wherein the representation is created on a screen. 
   
   
     7. The computer program product of  claim 1  wherein the representation is created in a data structure stored in a memory of a computer system. 
   
   
     8. The computer program product of  claim 1  wherein the representation is created in a file. 
   
   
     9. An apparatus for illustrating function calls that are made in an object oriented software system comprising:
 means for generating a representation of a first node corresponding to a first function executing in the software system which obtains access to a resource, with an indicator of a number of times the first function has been called in the software system; 
 means for generating a representation of a second node corresponding to a second function executing in the software system while the resource is accessed, with an indicator of a number of times the second function has been called; 
 means for generating a representation of a place holder node with an indicator that the place holder node has never been called in the software system, the representation of the place holder node has never been called further indicating that the place holder node does not represent a function; 
 means for generating a representation of a first call from the first node to the place holder node; 
 means for generating a representation of a second call from the place holder node to the second node; and 
 wherein the first and second calls correspond to the first function calling the second function in the software system and the model of the software system under execution provides information regarding which functions are called while the resource is being accessed. 
 
   
   
     10. A computer implementable method for illustrating function calls that are made in an object oriented software system comprising:
 generating a representation of a first node corresponding to a first function executing in the software system which obtains access to at least one of a plurality of resources, with an indicator of a number of times the first function has been called in the software system; 
 generating a representation of a second node corresponding to a second function executing in the software system while the resource is accessed, with an indicator of a number of times the second function has been called; 
 generating a representation of a place holder node with an indicator that the place holder node has never been called in the software system, the representation of the place holder node has never been called further indicating that the place holder node does not represent a function; 
 generating a representation of a first call from the first node to the place holder node; 
 generating a representation of a second call from the place holder node to the second node; and 
 wherein the first and second calls correspond to the first function calling the second function in the software system and the model of the software system under execution provides information regarding which functions are called while the resource is being accessed; and, 
 wherein the plurality of resources comprise a block of memory, a communications socket, a synchronisation lock, and a software object.